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Uneconomical older freighters depart transpacific market
来源：shippingazette 编辑：编辑部 发布：2023/07/27 17:17:50
THE transpacific market is bidding farewell to older freighters as they become increasingly uneconomical due to lower rates, according to Flexport.
Speaking during a webinar, Flexport president ocean and air Sanne Manders said that the current market was characterized by low demand but added that carriers are starting to "rightsize" capacity.
Integrators had parked quite a few aircraft, he pointed out, reports London's Air Cargo News.
"There are also some of the independent freighter operators that are starting to run into trouble or are grounding planes because it is not economically viable to fly an old 747," he said.
"They are more fuel consuming and sometimes conversions which have lower payloads - you cannot make them economical anymore at the current price levels."
The latest data from the Baltic Exchange shows that rates on services from Hong Kong to North America were recently 48 per cent down on a year earlier, although prices remain around 35 per cent higher than 2019 levels for July.
However, he said there were still a lot of freighters in the market that were added during Covid.
Accenture's Seabury estimates that are 50-60 freighters being operated that are likely to go back to the desert when their heavy maintenance is due.
He added that the longer term charter contracts that were secured during the pandemic would also start coming to an end soon.
"Typically an airfreight contract is a year or a quarter but during the pandemic, a lot of forwarders and direct customers had to lock in long-term contracts otherwise they wouldn't get access to space," said Mr Manders.
"You see a lot of charter contracts that are multiple-year duration that are still in the market."
He said that these operators were sometimes looking to fill the aircraft below cost, which was making them uneconomical.
Mr Manders added: "You will start to see that as those contracts expire, they will start parking them."
On a brighter note, Mr Manders said he expected there to be a replenishment cycle at some point while there were also product launches expected before the end of the year.
Speaking during a webinar, Flexport president ocean and air Sanne Manders said that the current market was characterized by low demand but added that carriers are starting to "rightsize" capacity.
Integrators had parked quite a few aircraft, he pointed out, reports London's Air Cargo News.
"There are also some of the independent freighter operators that are starting to run into trouble or are grounding planes because it is not economically viable to fly an old 747," he said.
"They are more fuel consuming and sometimes conversions which have lower payloads - you cannot make them economical anymore at the current price levels."
The latest data from the Baltic Exchange shows that rates on services from Hong Kong to North America were recently 48 per cent down on a year earlier, although prices remain around 35 per cent higher than 2019 levels for July.
However, he said there were still a lot of freighters in the market that were added during Covid.
Accenture's Seabury estimates that are 50-60 freighters being operated that are likely to go back to the desert when their heavy maintenance is due.
He added that the longer term charter contracts that were secured during the pandemic would also start coming to an end soon.
"Typically an airfreight contract is a year or a quarter but during the pandemic, a lot of forwarders and direct customers had to lock in long-term contracts otherwise they wouldn't get access to space," said Mr Manders.
"You see a lot of charter contracts that are multiple-year duration that are still in the market."
He said that these operators were sometimes looking to fill the aircraft below cost, which was making them uneconomical.
Mr Manders added: "You will start to see that as those contracts expire, they will start parking them."
On a brighter note, Mr Manders said he expected there to be a replenishment cycle at some point while there were also product launches expected before the end of the year.